JEDDAH: No cases of swine flu have been found in any of Jeddah’s schools, said Raja Allah Al-Sulami, spokesman of the province’s Education Department, on Sunday.
Al-Sulami made the announcement as all of the Kingdom’s intermediate and secondary boys and girls schools opened on Saturday following a two-week extension of the summer holiday to allow schools to take measures against the pandemic.
“There is no truth to reports carried by some Internet sites and via SMS text messages that a pupil at Al-Siddiq Secondary School in Jeddah has got swine flu,” said Al-Sulami.
Al-Sulami said that one pupil at the school had a high temperature, but this turned out not to be swine flu when he was examined by the school’s health unit. He added that the pupil was given medicine.
Al-Sulami said that doctors have visited all of Jeddah’s schools, including Al-Siddiq Secondary School as a precautionary measure to detect any cases of swine flu. None have been found to exist so far.
Dr. Adil Turkistani, director of preventive medicine in Jeddah, said that one or two cases of H1N1 in any school would not be indicative of a spread of the virus.
He added that any student found to have swine flu would be sent home to rest for seven days and would not be allowed to return unless all symptoms were clear.
Dr. Turkistani said his department has designated all doctors of school health units as well as finalists of medical colleges to deal immediately with suspected cases of swine flu.
He added that all of the 40 health centers in Jeddah city and the 22 other centers in the suburban areas outside the city have been instructed to examine pupils referred to them, and to administer medicine if anyone is found to have swine flu.
“The officials of the health and education sectors in the province will get together every Wednesday to assess the situation,” he added.
Meanwhile, Dr. Nuha Dashash, assistant director of health affairs, and Dr. Samiyah Binladen, assistant director of education, on Sunday toured all of Jeddah’s secondary and intermediate public girls schools to assess measures that have been taken to deal with a potential outbreak of the illness.
They will do the same for private girls schools next Wednesday.
“The arrangements made by schools against swine flu are excellent and the health situation is satisfactory,” said Dr. Dashash.
